Is 18 guage wire enough for highs and mids?

[bmr4life 0]

My amp is a SAX-100.4 and will be running in 2 ohm stereo so 160 watts per channel. Can 18 gauge handle that?

[creyc 1]

With 160 watts I would strongly recommend 14g wire, especially if it has to travel many feet from the amp to the doors.

[ANeonRider 3]

18ga is fine. 16ga is better. 14ga is overkill.

[audio-neon 34]

18ga is fine. 16ga is better. 14ga is overkill.

If 14 ga. is overkill, than what's using 12ga for tweets and 10ga for mids?

[johnecon2001 82]

18ga is fine. 16ga is better. 14ga is overkill.

If 14 ga. is overkill, than what's using 12ga for tweets and 10ga for mids?

Trying to be Steve Meade?

[audio-neon 34]

18ga is fine. 16ga is better. 14ga is overkill.

If 14 ga. is overkill, than what's using 12ga for tweets and 10ga for mids?

Trying to be Steve Meade?

Just curious, I have been doing it forever b/c small ga. speaker wire is cheap and I like overkill.

[///M5 2,833]

With 160 watts I would strongly recommend 14g wire, especially if it has to travel many feet from the amp to the doors.

And this is because??

18ga is fine. 16ga is better. 14ga is overkill.

Agreed, but I will say from a price point perspective I don't understand the 18.

[creyc 1]

Its cheap safety. You can run longer lengths of wire. You'll spend a few measly bucks more at the end of the day. Why not?

[mrogowski 6]

Yes.

[///M5 2,833]

Its cheap safety. You can run longer lengths of wire. You'll spend a few measly bucks more at the end of the day. Why not?

Nothing to do with safety and not necessarily recommended then. Why not is simple in that it isn't necessary.

[creyc 1]

Turns out I'm not the only one who thinks 18g is a tad thin:

http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwi...orassistant.swf

I've just never liked cutting corners. Do what you like, yes 16g would probably be plenty. Speaker wire is a pain to run through doors and floors hence spending $4 more to do it right the first time. Not to mention future-proofing for amp/speaker upgrades down the road..14 is probably overkill, I'll give you that.

Edited May 1, 2008 by creyc

[ANeonRider 3]

Question, how much time do you really spend at your full RMS?

If you have the answer, I'll give you a gold star.

[mrogowski 6]

Just an FYI: 20AWG wire can take about 30 amps of current before failure...

[creyc 1]

Just an FYI: 20AWG wire can take about 30 amps of current before failure...

Where did you get that number from, because it's not even remotely correct for our applications. Using the values found in the Handbook of Electronic Tables and Formulas, a 20g wire is safe for 1.5 amp of current in a power transmission line or 11 amps free-air such as in a panel or box.

ref: http://www.cablesandconnectors.com/wiregauge.html

Perhaps you are talking about the inner copper conductor failing at 30 amps, which is of course after melting through the wire insulation, any nearby plastic and igniting any flammable materials it comes in contact with. Sure, 30 amps.

Not that you need to worry about this in a car, of course. The maximum current you might be seeing on your speaker wires is only around 8.5 amps. Meaning you could probably push it on 18 in a pinch, sure.

[KU40 173]

don't you have to factor in the length of wire as well? or does that only affect signal loss (lower voltage from more resistance over longer runs). But I figure if you're losing voltage the energy has to go somewhere and gets expelled as heat.

[emperorjj1 2]

Question, how much time do you really spend at your full RMS?

If you have the answer, I'll give you a gold star.

what? 1% of the time. just the very peak of the sine wave (assuming ur not clipping)

[emperorjj1 2]

wait its not even a sine wave... when i was watching music on a oscope tonight it never peaked until the deck was clipping (testing deck power)

[KU40 173]

wait its not even a sine wave... when i was watching music on a oscope tonight it never peaked until the deck was clipping (testing deck power)

I don't get what you mean? They are sine waves.

[emperorjj1 2]

lol ya but it looked quite a bit different. Assuming ur looking at a sine wave tone its exactly the same over and over. well the music was less then half the size and very rugged (meaning instead of a noticable sine wave it was a bunch of random blah.... u could sorta tell paterns with the beat but very different then tones)

[KU40 173]

well that's because there were a bunch of different tones going on at once. if you just saw one simple sine wave it would be a single tone, not music which incorporates a lot of sine waves at once from all the different instruments.

[emperorjj1 2]

ya i know i just didnt really expect to see what i saw. guess it tripped me out a lil too much

[KU40 173]

oh ok. been sippin back on grandpa's old cough medicine? haha.

[Brassler07 0]

10 gauge for speakers? Meh. Waste of money.

[ANeonRider 3]

Question, how much time do you really spend at your full RMS?

If you have the answer, I'll give you a gold star.

what? 1% of the time. just the very peak of the sine wave (assuming ur not clipping)

Less than that.